


Revelations

by dragonwrangler



Category: Battle Scars (Comics), Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Secret Warriors, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M, SHIELD Daddies Day, Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-22
Updated: 2013-05-22
Packaged: 2017-12-12 14:40:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/812718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonwrangler/pseuds/dragonwrangler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick always was a manipulative bastard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Revelations

**Author's Note:**

> Part I written for the [2013 Shield Daddies Day](http://director-of-shield.tumblr.com/post/50981938802/today-is-the-day-shield-daddies-day). Any mistakes are my own. Light slash.

**PART ONE**

**MARCH, 1990**

**23 MONTHS BEFORE THE DELTITE INCIDENT**

“Colonel Fury.”

The voice was not one Nick immediately recognized. Scowling, he turned to see who it was but had to pause when the move pulled the cuts on his chest open. He resisted the urge to press his hand against the wounds Victor had carved into him but he had to briefly close his good eye and bite back the pain before he could get a look at the man who had called his name.

When he opened it, he found the Army Ranger who had been first through the breach in the wall standing behind him. He looking irritated; Nick was sure part of that emotion was connected to the bruises that were slowly blooming on the kid’s face. The darker of the two Nick had put there himself; the newer one explained why Couslon hadn’t been right on Junior’s tail when Victor Uvarov, the head of an old Russian terrorist cell known as Leviathan, had sprung his trap. Nick was a little surprised to see Coulson still hanging around; he would have expected the man to have jumped into the ambulance they’d packed Nick’s son into to make sure he didn’t get into any more trouble.

Matching Coulson’s irritated look with one of his own since he could tell the man was assessing his condition and finding it lacking, Nick snapped, “What the hell do you want, Coulson?”

Something flashed in Coulson’s eyes at the use of his surname— Nick realized that had been a tactical error on his part as soon as he’d said it—as he pointed back over his shoulder and said, “If you will come with me there’s a medical team waiting to take a look at your injuries.” There was a minute pause before Coulson added grudgingly, “Sir.”

In Nick’s peripheral vision he could see a few of his agents pause and look over at the two of them. He would have found it amusing if his chest wasn’t burning and his head wasn’t pounding from all the rummaging around Victor’s telepath had done when she’d gone looking for the Oroborus codes that unlocked SHIELD’s database. Right now though, he was not amused. “Go tell ‘em to stand by; I’ve got more important things to worry about right now.” He turned and started to move away but Coulson was faster.

Quickly stepping around Nick, Coulson planted himself right in Nick’s path. “You’ll make time,” the man said as he clenched his hands into fists and braced for a fight.

“Why the hell didn’t you go with Marcus,” Nick snapped as he drew himself up to his full height; a half a head taller than Coulson.

A murderous look crossed Coulson face though Nick could see something else moving below the surface of it—fear? Worry? He wasn’t sure what it was—as the man leaned close and hissed into the bubble of silence spreading out from their confrontation, “Why didn’t you tell him the truth?”

That question took some of the wind out of Nick’s sails as he answered truthfully in a voice only Coulson would hear, “It wasn’t mine to give.” Coulson blinked, surprised, as he settled back on his heels. Nick could see the puzzle pieces falling into place as the man’s focus shifted to the side.

After giving the man a few seconds, Nick crossed his arms and smiled dangerously. Coulson’s irritated look snapped back in place as Nick asked, “What are ya gonna do if I ignore the med team?”

Without looking away from him, Coulson pointed at an agent to his left and slightly behind his position. “I’ll take that tranq gun and shoot you with it until you go down. I will then continue to shoot you every time you come up for air until the med team is done patching you up.”

Nick raised an eyebrow. “Ya really thing you’ll get away with that, kid?” There was a snort of amusement. Looking past Coulson, Nick saw Dum Dum and the Contessa had moved up to watch the two of them go at it. Dum Dum looked amused while Val was scowling and looked ready to shoot him herself if Coulson didn’t. Nick rolled his good eye at them then focused back on Coulson. There was an equally dangerous smile now on the man’s face.

“I don’t see that as being an issue, sir,” he said in an annoyingly smooth voice.

“Fine.” Nick then raised his voice. “Since that ugly mug of yours is lookin a little too smug for my liking, you get cleanup duty, Dum Dum. I want this place locked up and scrubbed down by the time they’re done with me; got it?”

Dum Dum grinned and tapped the front of his bowler hat. “I’ll make sure they put a nice pink bow on it just to brighten your day, Nick.”

“Yeah; you do that. Contessa!”  Nick glared up at the raised platform and the screens displaying information that never should have seen the light of day as he growled, “Wipe it clean.” He could see a protest rising up at the loss of whatever data Victor had stored on the thing and he added in no uncertain terms, “All of it.”

Val drew in a breath then nodded her head before turning to shout orders at the tech agents that were moving into place around the consoles.

As he headed out, Nick paused to point at Coulson. “We’re gonna be exchanging a few words later,” he said. “Just so you know.”

The kid had enough decency to look mildly concerned about his well being at that statement.

**10 HOURS LATER**

“Cheese?”

U. S. Army Ranger Phil Coulson snapped awake at the use of his call sign. Between one breath and the next, he identified where he was—a hospital room in Bethesda, Maryland; that his friend Marcus was awake again and not looking all that happy about it; there were no bad guys waving guns at them which was a nice change of pace considering how the last week had gone; and that he was in serious need of an ice pack for his face.

Trying not to grimace at the pain the bruises on his face were giving him since that would only aggravate thing, Phil stood and stepped over to the bed, resting his hand on the raised metal side as he looked Marcus over.

He could tell Marcus wasn’t all there yet. He was frowning at Phil and the one eye that was visible seemed to be having a little trouble focusing. Phil touched the side of Marcus’s face that was clear of bandages; under normal circumstances he would never have taken such liberties but these were hardly what Phil would call normal. The touch appeared to have a positive effect. Marcus blinked and seemed more in the moment than he had a second ago.

Not letting any of the worry the big pad of cloth covering Marcus’s left eye gave him, Phil smirked and asked, “How you feeling, boss?”

Marcus attempted to glare at him and failed miserably as he grumbled, “Like ‘m laying on the beach at Waikiki. How the hell ya think m feelin’?” He huffed and closed his eyes as if drained by those few words.

“In other words, same old, same old,” Phil responded then frowned slightly when he caught himself lightly stroking Marcus’s check with his thumb. He forced his hand still then blinked in surprise when Marcus said, his voice slurred, “Whatcha stop fer?”

“What?” Phil asked, not quite sure what Marcus was talking about.

Marcus opened his eye and matched him with his own sleepy, “What?”

The frown got a little deeper as Phil started stroking Marcus’s cheek again. “Hm, better,” Marcus said as his eyes fluttered shut.

Phil pursed his lips as he considered Marcus’s reaction. It was probably just the drugs messing with Marcus’s head but Phil could pull up a few incidences over the years that they’d served together that made Phil wonder if it might be something more to Marcus’s reactions. Realizing that his best bet was to test his theory before he could change his mind—if he didn’t do it now he never would—Phil silently mouthed the words damn it then leaned over the railing and kissed Marcus lightly on the lips.

As he pulled back, Phil found he was holding his breath. When there was no immediate response, Phil slowly breathed out then froze when Marcus muttered, “Hey, thas cheatin’.” He opened his good eye and looked right at Phil. “Coulda waited til the drugs were off, Cheese.”

‘Would you have let me?” Phil asked before he could stop himself.

“Hell, yeah. Preferably with you pinned to the bed and me—“Marcus stopped and this time managed to glare at Phil a few seconds before losing focus. “Damn drugs.”

Phil smirked as he moved his hand back to the railing—he felt the need to hold on to something and the railing worked just as well as anything else—and said, “Right. We’ll just blame that on the drug.” As the smirk faded, Phil said in a softer tone, “Get some sleep, boss.”

“I will if you will,” Marcus said.

“It’s not a contest…” That got Phil a look. He rolled his eyes and nodded his head. “Fine. I’ll get some sleep if you do.”

“Deal,” Marcus breathed out and closed his eyes. In a few heartbeats Marcus’s expression relaxed into sleep.

Phil watched him for a few seconds just to be sure that he was asleep then he pushed away from the railing—only to freeze when he realized he was not alone in the room.

Leaning against the door jam, Colonel Fury was watching him; arms crossed, face unreadable. Since he had no idea how long he had been standing there or what he might have seen, Phil let his training take over and straightened into a parade rest as he said, “Sir?”

Phil was sure it was his imagination but he would have sworn under oath that a look of amusement flashed over the man’s face as he pushed off the wall and said, “He’ll be out for awhile. I commandeered the room next door for our little talk. Come on.” He then walked out of the room without a backwards glance.

After blowing out a breath of air, Phil glanced down at Marcus. “Well, see you later, boss.” As he started for the door he glanced up and muttered under his breath, “I hope.”

* * *

By the time Coulson stepped into the room, Nick was sprawled in the larger of the two guest chairs with a laptop balanced on one leg. “Have a seat,’ he said then added after looking a little closer at the slightly pale Ranger standing in front of him, “or a bed. That might be a better choice if you’re planning on passing out on me.”

Coulson’s eyes narrowed as he responded. “A chair will do. Thank you.” As the man settled into the other chair after carrying it around the bed so they could face one another, Nick closed the file and tossed the laptop on the bed to his right. Crossing his arms over his chest, Nick leaned back and asked, “So, what are ya gonna do next?” When there wasn’t an immediate answer, Nick pointed out, “You’re AWOL right now, remember.”

“We both are,” Coulson answered clearly. He tilted his head slightly and his gaze was thoughtful as he asked, “Are you turning us in?”

“Depends on how you answer my questions.” Coulson’s expression darkened and he opened his mouth but Nick waved him off. “I don’t care if you’re fucking my son or not,” he said. “That’s between you and him.” He leaned forward. “What I want to know, Coulson, is what are you going to do now that you know how the A-game is played?”

Coulson closed his mouth and gave Nick a contemplative look. Nick waved a hand towards the other room. “I’ll betcha a hundred bucks that Marcus there ain’t gonna go quietly into retirement now that he’s got an idea of what the real struggle out there is even if he has earned the right. Now that the word’s out that I’ve got a son who’s got a secret in his bloodstream that people would kill for, he’s going to have a big red bulls-eye painted on his forehead and I’m guessing he’s gonna want to take the fight to them first.”

Coulson nodded his head. “That’s Marcus all right. So he is a Super Soldier then?”

Nick shook his head, not at all surprised that Coulson when straight to that idea considering the comment about the man’s fascination with Captain America in the file Val had sent him. “No; this ain’t nothing like what Cap got. It’s called the Infinity Formula. It does enhance his strength and healing abilities a little but nothing like the Super Soldier formula would.”

“And it’s why he doesn’t look as old as he should, or why you don’t either, right?”

“Yeah, that seems to be the main purpose of the stuff. It also means that he has a chance of standing up to the nutcases he’ll be dealing with; unlike you. So tell me; you willing to get involved in this weirdness? Cause it’s gonna eat you alive and spit ya back out before ya know it.”

“I am,” Coulson said, “on one condition, though.”

“You ain’t in a bargaining position.”

“I think I am.” Nick made a rolling motion with his hand for Coulson to get on with it. The man took a breath then said, “I want you to do what you did to Marcus.”

There was a huff of amusement. “That’d be a bit tough considering that involved me having sex with his mom before he was born.”

“And how did you get it?”

“I stepped on a landmine and someone put me back together like the Six Million Dollar man though without the bionics.” Nick shrugged. “No one’s been able to duplicate the results yet.”

“But you have ideas.”

“A few.”

“And if it works? How long would I be down?”

“If you’re lucky? A week, maybe two at the most. Either way you’ll probably be up and about before my kid over there is. I don’t think I have to tell ya what the not lucky options are.”

“No; I got that.” Coulson fell silent and Nick patiently waited for the next question. It wasn’t quite the one he was expecting.

“Why aren’t you telling me no?” Coulson finally asked.

“It works to my advantage and it’s obvious you ain’t gonna walk away from this.” Nick shook his head. “And Marcus is going to need someone to watch his back. I’ve screwed up one son already; gonna try not to screw up another.” When he got a questioning look at that comment, Nick waved his hand. “Never mind. I’m sure you’ll find out about that eventually.” Nick stood up and held out his hand. “So; you in?”

Coulson stood and took the hand. “You’ve got yourself an agent, sir.”

“Great. First step to this stupidity is that you get yourself some sleep. Ya look like your gonna fall flat on your face though not sure anyone’s gonna notice considering how your face looks right now, kid.”

 “Thanks. Appreciate the compliment.”

“Whatever. You can use the spare bed in the kid’s room.”

“Will that be all, Colonel?”

“I’m sure I can come up with something if ya really want me too.”

There was a bit of an eye roll at that. “No, I’m good.” Coulson then took a step back and snapped off a salute then turned after Nick returned the salute to march out the door.

Nick shook his head, a tired little smile on his face as he gathered up the laptop and headed back to work. He had a feeling that if anyone could survive the surgery, Coulson would be one of them; and Marcus was going to need all the help he could get. If he did guess wrong and killed Coulson then he’d have another son who went gunning for his head but he’d worry about that later if he had to.

**FEBRUARY, 2002**

**NOVA SCOTIA**

Marcus glared at the quaint little cottage with its wrap around veranda and the windows on the second floor that gave the place what was probably a beautiful view of the Atlantic as Phil brought the rental to a stop right in front of it. He knew he was sulking—Phil had made that quite clear on the drive up that that was what he’d been doing even if he hadn’t known—but he wasn’t about to give up the mood without a fight.

As the engine ticked off some of its heat, Phil turned and gave him a look. “You gonna be like this the whole time we’re here?” he asked as he popped his door open a crack. “We did get a vacation out of this, you know.”

Marcus knew he couldn’t argue with that. It was the first time in years they’d had time to enjoy each other’s company without worrying about someone crashing the party. Still…

“I’m guessing it’s about to get spoiled in a big way as soon as we walk in there,” Marcus said darkly.

“You’re gonna be sleeping on the couch tonight,” Phil responded as he stepped out of the car.

“I’m sure I can change your mind!”

Coulson leaned back in and gave him a smirk. “Like to see you try.” Marcus huffed and had to fight down an answering smile as he stepped out of the car himself.

As they were walking up to the porch Marcus had no trouble fighting down the smile when he caught sight of his dad watching them approach. “Beginning to think you two were gonna make out in the car while I waited up here,” Nicholas J. Fury Sr. said as they hit the steps leading up to the veranda.

“Okay, that was the last thing I needed to hear, dad,” Marcus muttered. Coulson on the other hand seemed amused by the whole thing. He took Marcus’s hand and said with a crooked smile on his lips, “We could just make out here if that makes things easier for you, Colonel.”

“Nah; you can wait until I kick ya both out and lock the door behind ya before ya go to town.” Marcus groaned and gave Coulson the evil eye for prompting that comment though he didn’t bother to let go of his hand out of sheer annoyance with the man. “Come on,” Nick said, “Let me put ya outta your misery.”

Inside the cottage was comfortable in a practical way and Marcus could actually see himself relaxing in a place like this; at least until he spotted several piles of paperwork and a few boxes labeled SHIELD cluttering up the kitchen as they headed for the basement stairs. “Why do I get the feeling this is a debriefing and not a family visit, dad?” He asked as they headed down the stairs.

“Never claimed it wasn’t,” Nick answered as he walked up to the closest wall and tapped the surface with his fingers. Marcus looked at the ceiling and swore a few choice words in his head as he realized the wall was a hologram. A square of what looked to be painted drywall flickered then switched to that of a metal door. Knowing his dad, it was probably made out of adamantium or some shit like that.

Beyond the door was a hallway. Nick headed for the first door on the right and stepped into the room. Inside was a small conference table. There was a glass of water set in front of three of the chairs and a pitcher of water towards the center. There was also a stack of folders before the chair Nick settled down in.

After taking the chair to the left of his father, with Coulson claiming the one on his left, Marcus asked, “Do I even want to ask what this is about, dad?”

“We’ll know in a minute.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better, dad.”

“I’ll cry ya a river later.” Nick tossed a folder in front of Marcus. “The World Security Council,” he said, “has decided—due to recent events—that a new organization needs to be built. They’re reviving the SHIELD model and setting it up as an independent multinational organization that runs outside any one government’s control. The funding was approved two weeks ago.”

Before Marcus could open the file, Phil reached over and snagged it. “How long have you been planning for this, Colonel?” he asked as he pulled out the pages and spread them out on the table.

“Since the Deltite affair shut us down.”

After a few seconds of flipping, Phil suddenly stopped and looked over at Nick. “How did you get this past the Council?” There was a note of admiration in his voice. Alarms started going off in Marcus’s head.

“It never came up,” was the answer he got. Phil looked back down at the papers in front of him. “Impressive.”

Marcus glared at Phil. It was never a good sign—at least in terms of his well-being— when Phil sounded like that. “Mind filling me in on what I’m missing here, Cheese?”

Phil looked up from the paperwork; there was a smile on his face. The alarms turned into sirens. “It doesn’t specify which Fury they want to run the thing.”

“Doesn’t specify? Whatta ya mean it doesn’t specify?”

Phil spun the file around and pushed it back in his direction. “It just say Nicholas J. Fury; there are no generational suffixes or rank in any of this paperwork. Since your official military records all match your original birth certificate now this could also refer to you.”

“Fuck.” Marcus pushed the paperwork back at Phil then rested his head in his head. Turning his head without lifting it away from his hand, he looked at his father and said, “Surprised you didn’t suggest Mikel for this. He’d be better qualified to run an organization as big as what I’m guessing this one will be.”

“I’ve got other plans in mind for him.”

“And there’s also the fact he killed off an entire SHIELD team back in ’89,” Phil said as he took a closer look at the papers. “That probably wouldn’t go over well with this Council if they ever found out.”

Marcus turned to stare at Phil who was too focused on the paper to notice the scrutiny. “What?”

“How did you find out about that?” Nick asked; his good eye narrowing as he gazed at Phil.

Phil finally looked up as if figuring out he might just be in trouble. “It was in his file,” he answered carefully.

“I don’t remember seeing that in his file,” Marcus exclaimed to Phil before looking at his father.

Nick was looking annoyed. “That’s how Mikel got my attention before either of us knew he was mine and not Jake’s son. And exactly which file did you pull on the kid, Phil?”

There was a moment of silence as the two men stared at one another then Phil said carefully, “I believe it would be in my best interest to plead the 5th on that question, Colonel.”

“You did some digging around after we had our little discussion following the Orion incident, didn’t you?”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Remind me never to piss you off, Coulson.”

“I’ll be sure to do that, sir.”

Shaking his head, Marcus waved a hand at the folders as he said, “Why me? Why aren’t you going to be the one running it?” Marcus asked.

“Me? I’m retired.”

“The hell you are.”

“I’ve been out of the game too many years. You haven’t which makes you the one qualified to do this.”

“Well, I’m glad one of us thinks so cause I sure as hell don’t.”

“Wait,” Phil held a page up as if reading the fine print before giving Nick a questioning look. “These aren’t the same plans as the ones the CIA used for their program,” Phil said.

Nick nodded his head. “These are the plans Howard Stark during the years after the war. This time we can make SHIELD closer to his original vision. We weren’t able to put that version into action first time around but with the advancements in technology and the budget the Council just approved, we should be able to pull it off now.”

“This…Helicarrier will be difficult to pull off even with a budget this big.”

Nick smiled. Marcus was glad that smile wasn’t being directed at him. “I’m sure you’ll find a way, Phil.”

Phil stared at Nick then looked down at the folder and sighed.

Marcus narrowed his good eye at his dad. “There’s more to it than this, isn’t there?”

“Yeah.” He tossed another set of files across the table. “Once you get things up and running you might want to start building a quick response team outta some of the ones listed in these files.” Marcus flipped one open and raised an eyebrow at the information inside. Phil picked up another then whistled.

“These are the Caterpillar files,” he said with the same tone of reverence he sometimes used when talking about Captain America. As if suddenly realizing he’d said that out loud, Phil froze and looked at the Colonel as he carefully closed the file and slid it back towards Marcus.

“I should probably stop talking now,” Phil said.

Marcus’s father was looking at Phil like a cobra ready to strike. “That’s probably a good idea, _Phil_ ,” he said. It was a good thing he knew Phil could take care of himself or Marcus would have been worried for his safety right now.

Pushing the new pile back at his father, Marcus said, “How bout we just wait until we see if this thing will fly first.”

“So you’re in then?” Nick said as he scooped the folders up and made a neat stack out of them.

“Do I have a choice?” Marcus countered irritably.

“There’s always a choice.” They stared at one another then Nick stood and picked up the folders. “Tell ya what; I’ll give ya a few minutes to think about it. I’ll have some beer ready for when ya get back upstairs.”

After he was gone, Marcus rested his head in his hands again then he dropped them on the table as he looked at Phil. “I know that look,” he said. “You’re thinking I should go for it.”

There was a shrug of the shoulder as Phil tapped one of the pages scattered in front of him. “Considering how messed up the world is right now, this might be our best chance to do any good. The world could use a few good old fashion type heroes and that’s what the Colonel’s got in those files he just took away.”

“Okay, you’re jumping the gun too. We can jump into the hero business once we get things up and running. I need names of people we can recruit to get this up and running first.”

“I’ve got a few names in mind. Blake would be a good choice to get the operational end up and running—you know he’s been itching for a chance to gut the CIA so it ran the way it should; then there’s Sitwell and Woo over at the FBI. Then there’s Carter and Pierce and—”

“Oh no. Dad can deal with Pierce, not me.”

“Fine. I’m sure Dugan and the Contessa would be interested in coming back into the fold too.”

“Yeah, that’s a good start on the field side of things but going by the term ‘helicarrier’, we’re gonna need qualified people who think outside the box with a lot of military training too.”

“I can get a list together by the end of the month. We could ask the Colonel to talk to Quartermain and see if he’d be willing to come out of retirement to help out with the tech side of things. I’m guessing there’s gonna be a lot to the tech side of things this time around.”

“There wasn’t last time?”

“Going by what I’m looking at here? Not even close.”

“Great.” Marcus leaned back in his chair and looked up at one of the recessed lights above his head. “We’re gonna screw this up, Cheese.”

“Do you want someone else to screw it up?”

That got a dark chuckle. “Hell no.” He stood up. “Right. Let’s go tell the old man so we can get back to our vacation cause I’m guessing we’re not gonna see another one for a long, long time.”

Phil pushed his chair back to stand. “I’ll sleep when you sleep,” he said with a smile as he got to his feet.

Marcus nodded his head. “Deal.” He then gave the black glossy conference table a look. “Think dad would get pissed off if we grabbed a quickie on the table here?”

“I think your dad would shoot us before we left this room if we had a quickie on the table.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. We’ll wait till we get back in the car.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Let’s go save the world,” Marcus said as he led the way out of the room.

“Right behind you, boss.”

“Not tonight, you won’t be.”


End file.
